Tool Reviews

Exploring Perplexity AI: Its Mechanics & Usage Guide

by Sanduni - 14.11.2024

Table of Contents

• What is Perplexity AI?
• How Perplexity AI Functions
• What Distinguishes Perplexity AI
• Reasons to Opt for Perplexity Over Google or Bing
• Perplexity AI vs ChatGPT: Key Distinctions
• Recent Updates
• Guide to Using Perplexity AI
• Setting Perplexity AI as Your Default Search Utility
• Frequently Asked Questions: Perplexity AI

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Perplexity AI, introduced in 2022, is a sophisticated search engine that synthesizes information from various origins to provide direct answers, complete with source citations.

A fundamental aspect of Perplexity AI is its capacity to deliver groundbreaking solutions in search and information access, owing to its unique characteristics and operational capabilities.

Perplexity AI recognizes that users have limited time for sifting through extensive lists of search results (and let's be honest, who ventures to page two?).

A Brief Look at Perplexity’s Latest Progress and Influence

• Capital Gains: Perplexity AI secured $500M in funding, reaching a valuation of $9B.
• Rapid Expansion: The platform has experienced a 700% surge in both revenue and user engagement this year.
• Mac Integration: In October 2024, Perplexity unveiled its application for Mac users.
• Political Insights: Perplexity introduced an Election Hub for immediate responses to queries regarding the 2024 US elections.
• Impressive Metrics: Perplexity AI recorded 67.42 million visits, with an average user session lasting 11 minutes.

These developments underscore Perplexity AI's growing importance for individuals seeking quick, accessible information without the typical online clutter. It's beneficial to monitor Perplexity's advancements—not only to remain informed but also to uncover the full potential of this tool. For instance, while Perplexity helps find and synthesize textual information, services like DeepVo.ai can convert spoken content from meetings or lectures into highly accurate text, which can then be further analyzed or researched.

This piece offers a comprehensive overview of how Perplexity AI operates and the most effective ways to leverage its features.

Let's dive in.

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What is Perplexity AI?

Perplexity AI is an AI-driven search engine that furnishes precise, reliable, and current answers to any query.

Established in August 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, the enterprise is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Perplexity AI employs large language models (LLMs) to formulate conversational replies, referencing sources directly within the text to promote transparency and credibility.

How Perplexity AI Functions

By leveraging real-time internet searches and state-of-the-art language models, Perplexity AI presents information in a conversational, human-like manner.

Machine learning is instrumental in augmenting Perplexity AI's capabilities, enabling it to interpret user queries astutely and deliver accurate, contextually relevant responses.

Here’s how Perplexity AI operates:

• Deciphers Your Query with Natural Language Processing: Perplexity AI utilizes sophisticated Natural Language Processing (NLP) to grasp your intent. It analyzes intricate language structures, pinpoints key themes, and captures the complete context of your question, resulting in personalized answers.
• Scours the Web and Incorporates Sources: To ensure accuracy and trustworthiness, Perplexity AI gathers information from a wide array of reputable and authoritative sources. It examines trusted websites, academic journals, and credible databases. Each response includes numbered footnotes linking to the sources, allowing you to verify details or explore further.
• Maintains Conversational Flow While Addressing Your Questions: Perplexity AI is engineered to retain the context of your previous inquiries within a session. This allows it to answer follow-up questions coherently, making the interaction feel natural and conversational. It addresses your queries smoothly and continuously.
• Evolves and Adapts: Perplexity AI refines itself through user interactions. Each session helps enhance its language comprehension, adapt to new jargon, and improve its responses. This continuous learning ensures the platform remains current and pertinent.
• Offers Two Search Modes: Quick Search and Pro Search: Perplexity AI provides two distinct search modes to cater to varying user requirements:
  • Quick Search: For straightforward questions, Quick Search delivers immediate answers by summarizing data from indexed sources.
  • Pro Search: For intricate or detailed inquiries, Pro Search conducts more profound investigations across multiple sources and may pose follow-up questions to refine the search. It furnishes comprehensive answers for multifaceted questions. Free users can perform up to 5 Pro Searches daily; subscribers have a limit of up to 600 Pro Searches per day.

Example of Perplexity AI in Action:

If you inquire, "What are the advantages of practicing yoga?" Perplexity AI will:

1. Comprehending the query: You're seeking the health benefits associated with yoga.
2. Searching: It scans health-focused websites, medical publications, and fitness resources.
3. Summarizing the response: It consolidates key points—such as enhanced flexibility, stress alleviation, and cardiovascular health—into a concise summary.
4. Citing: It provides footnotes to the original sources for verification or deeper exploration.

What Distinguishes Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI sets itself apart from conventional search engines and other AI models in several key aspects:

Perplexity AI is a robust search engine with sophisticated features, engineered to comprehend complex inquiries and furnish pertinent answers from diverse origins.

• Intelligent Search with Image & File Upload Capabilities: Perplexity AI merges large language models (LLMs) with web-searching prowess, collecting information from numerous sources to deliver answers. You can include images, PDFs, or text files in your prompts. This is particularly useful for analyzing documents, similar to how DeepVo.ai can generate accurate transcriptions from audio files, which can then be used as text input for further AI analysis.
• Provides Direct Answers, Not Just Links: Unlike traditional search engines that offer a list of links, Perplexity AI supplies direct answers to your questions along with a curated selection of sources. This conserves time and negates the need to sift through multiple links.
• Choice of Premier Language Models: Perplexity AI allows users to select from a variety of LLMs, including the Default Model, GPT-4 Omni, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, Sonar Large, LlaMa 3.1 models (like llama-3.1-sonar-small, llama-3.1-sonar-large, llama-3.1-sonar-huge), and proprietary models such as pplx-7b and pplx-70b.
• Focus and Customized Search: The Focus feature enables you to designate specific sites for searching, such as Reddit, Wolfram Alpha, academic publications, YouTube, or the entire web. This helps filter out low-quality or irrelevant sources.
• Spaces for Organizing and Managing Searches: Perplexity Spaces are tailored environments where you can arrange your searches, files, and AI interactions.
• Access to Real-Time Information & Images: Perplexity AI can deliver current information, like live sports scores, and generate images related to your queries. It also features real-time search capabilities through its Sonar model.
• Rapid & Adaptable Answers Suited to Your Needs: You can request Perplexity AI to adjust its answers, for example, by modifying recipes for different serving quantities. It is recognized for its concise and swift responses, often outperforming other AI models.

Reasons to Opt for Perplexity Over Google or Bing

Perplexity AI presents distinctive features and faster answers, yet it doesn't entirely supersede the extensive capabilities and functionalities of traditional search engines like Google or Bing.

• Direct Answers: Perplexity provides concise, to-the-point answers instead of a mere list of relevant links. It consolidates information from multiple sources, saving you the effort of navigating across the web. The intuitive interface of Perplexity AI helps new users easily navigate and configure their accounts, improving the initial user experience. It also uncovers related facts and presents them.
• Can Engage in Conversation: This AI is context-aware and comprehends natural language. You can pose follow-up questions like "What about..." and "Can you elaborate on..."
• Related Topics and Illustrations: It surfaces related topics for exploring similar issues and offers illustrative examples to help you apply the information to your own context.
• Manages Complex Long-Tail Queries: Perplexity adeptly handles unfamiliar user queries and long-tail searches. You can ask intricate questions that would challenge traditional search engines.
• Additional Functionalities:
  • Upload and analyze files, code, and PDFs.
  • Refine your results to specific sources like academic papers or YouTube videos.
  • Organize your research using collections.
  • Pro subscribers can choose from multiple AI models.
• Enhanced Privacy: Perplexity demonstrates greater respect for user privacy compared to Google, collecting significantly less user data. It also offers an incognito mode.
• Verifiable Outcomes: Perplexity cites its sources, enabling you to see where the information originated. You can then verify the facts immediately.
• Train the AI: Customize the AI's output to align with your specific use case through custom instructions.
• Real-Time Information Access: Perplexity provides the latest news, scores, and information, ideal for tracking events and news as they unfold.
• Niche Applications: You can utilize Perplexity for research, content creation, market tracking, or various other specialized tasks. It can explain code, translate documents, and more. For instance, after using DeepVo.ai to get a transcript of a technical discussion, Perplexity could help research specific terms or concepts mentioned.
• Ad-Free Experience: No advertisements! Perplexity doesn't inundate you with irrelevant ads like Google and Bing. It offers a clean, ad-free environment that delivers answers swiftly.

While Perplexity has its merits, Google and Bing search engines still lead in certain domains. Primarily, they offer a vast array of links for browsing and possess infrastructure designed for real-time information. You might prefer them for particular, specific scenarios. Ultimately, the choice hinges on your needs and personal preferences.

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Perplexity AI vs ChatGPT: Key Distinctions

Perplexity and ChatGPT—two prominent AI names frequently in the spotlight. Both are valuable tools for information retrieval and task completion, but they differ significantly in their functions and methods.

• Source Citation Capability: Perplexity excels in citation. It consistently provides sources for the information it delivers, enabling you to follow up and delve deeper. ChatGPT seldom offers citations, making it more challenging to ascertain trustworthiness. It sometimes does when prompted, but these sources can also diverge from the information provided.
• Functional Versatility: ChatGPT is a master of multitasking. It can generate text, narrate stories, create images, and even write code. It can engage in conversations and maintain context throughout. Perplexity can address related follow-up questions, but its primary design is to answer factual queries and supply information. It’s not intended to be a creative writing language model.
• User Interaction Method: Perplexity is search-oriented, providing direct answers rather than linking to pages. This makes it feel more informative and practical. ChatGPT is chat-based, designed to simulate a conversational experience. If you prefer typing questions into a search bar, Perplexity will likely be your choice. If you enjoy interacting with AI through chat, ChatGPT is more suitable.
• Cost Structure: Perplexity is free in its basic form. While premium features are available for a fee, the standard version is accessible and broadly useful. ChatGPT also offers a free version, albeit with limitations. You can upgrade to ChatGPT Plus and Perplexity Pro for $20 per month to access benefits like higher usage allocations, priority access, and enhanced features.

Recent Updates

Numerous changes have occurred, and you'll want to stay informed about these new features.

ChatGPT

• GPT-4o: GPT-4o is OpenAI’s latest flagship model for text, voice, and vision. It's essentially an enhanced and supercharged version of GPT-3.5.
• New and Enhanced Voice Mode: The voice interface is now more fluid and conversational. It features five new voices, understands various accents, and speaks multiple languages. This is in addition to the numerous languages it can now translate and provide definitions for. Fun Fact: ChatGPT can convey emotions like "scared," "angry," or "happy."
• Table and Chart Capabilities: ChatGPT can now analyze data by uploading files from your cloud storage. You can also interact with tables and view charts in a resizable panel.
• Increased Message Limits with ChatGPT Plus: Subscribers to ChatGPT Plus can now send up to 40 messages every 3 hours with GPT-4.

Perplexity

• Internal Knowledge Search: Team knowledge and web results are now integrated into search results, providing both internal documents and web pages simultaneously.
• Spaces: Spaces is a new AI-driven research and collaboration environment where you can customize and fine-tune Perplexity’s AI assistant for specific projects.
• Election Information Center: Perplexity’s Election Information Center delivers accurate, current election information to help maintain faith in democratic processes. The AI model was trained on high-quality, election-related content and can answer questions like "What are the early voting hours in my area?" or "Who are the candidates in my district?"
• Pages: A newly launched feature named Pages, currently in beta, enables users to generate entire webpages with relevant images, interactive tables of contents, and editing options based on their prompts. This positions it as a potential alternative to traditional blogs and informational articles. After generating content ideas or outlines from transcribed brainstorming sessions using a tool like DeepVo.ai for its AI summaries and mind maps, Perplexity Pages could then help expand these into full articles.
• Multimodal Perplexity: Perplexity is integrating multiple AI models, including GPT-4o for vision (image analysis) and other models for tasks such as data analysis and file processing.
• Pro Search (formerly Perplexity Copilot): Pro Search (previously Perplexity Copilot) has been revamped to offer more precise results and ask clarifying follow-up questions.

These are just some of the recent developments, and both platforms are evolving rapidly, so it’s advisable to stay current.

Guide to Using Perplexity AI

Here's a brief tutorial on how to use Perplexity. Let's begin.

1. Browsing Perplexity AI Without An Account

• No Account Needed for Browsing: You can use Perplexity AI like a standard search engine and browse the web without creating an account. Your searches are not tracked, and you won’t have access to your search history or saved queries.
• Or Create an Account: However, if you wish to save searches, customize your profile, and create collections and threads, registration is recommended. Registration is free!
• Ask Your Questions: Type your questions naturally, as if you were asking a friend. Perplexity AI will provide an answer supported by citations from credible sources.
• Discover Mode: Discover Mode in Perplexity is a feature designed to help users find and explore information effortlessly. It includes a Discover tab that condenses content from various sources into concise answers, speeding up research.
• Save Your Research: Keep your findings organized with collections and threads. If you have an account, your searches will be saved automatically and easily accessible later—perfect for long-term projects or in-depth research. You can even use transcribed notes from DeepVo.ai to fuel your research prompts in Perplexity.
• Search Your Files: Need to analyze documents? You can upload PDFs, CSVs, and more, and ask Perplexity AI questions about their contents directly from the dashboard.

2. Customizing Your Search with Focus Modes

Perplexity AI offers a variety of focus modes to help you refine or expand your searches:

• Web Mode: Ideal for general internet browsing.
• Academic Mode: Tailored for scholarly articles and research papers.
• Math Mode: Provides support for equations and complex mathematical problems.
• Writing Mode: Assists in generating essays and reports.
• Video Mode: Yields results related to video content.
• Social Mode: Offers insights from the social media landscape.

3. Quick Search vs Pro Search

• Quick Search: Obtain fast answers to simple questions.
• Pro Search (Power Search): Ask follow-up questions and apply filters to your results.

Setting Perplexity AI as Your Default Search Utility

Configure Perplexity AI as your default search engine to gain instant access to its answer-driven results directly from your browser's address bar. Here’s how to do it in popular browsers, or you can simply download their Chrome extension, which is compatible with any browser you use.

Google Chrome:

1. Click the three-dots menu icon in the top-right corner of Chrome and choose Settings.
2. In the left sidebar, click on Search Engine, then Manage Search Engines and Site Search.
3. Click Add under the Site Search section.
4. Enter the following details:
   • Name: Perplexity
   • URL: `https://www.perplexity.ai/?q=%s` (Note: original article had ?qs, typically search uses %s for query)
5. Click Add. Then, click the three-dots menu next to Perplexity and select Make default.

Microsoft Edge

1. Click the three-dots menu icon in the top-right corner of Edge and select Settings.
2. Click on Privacy, search, and services, then Address bar and search.
3. Select Manage search engines, then Add.
4. Enter the following details:
   • Name: Perplexity
   • URL: `https://www.perplexity.ai/?q=%s`
5. Click the three-dots menu next to Perplexity and select Make default.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Install the "Search Engines Helper" extension from Firefox Add-ons.
2. After installation, click the extension icon in your toolbar.
3. Enter `https://www.perplexity.ai/?q=%s` as the Search URL.
4. Right-click the address bar and select Add "Perplexity".
5. Go to Firefox settings > Search > Default Search Engine dropdown > Select Perplexity.

Making Perplexity AI your default search engine allows users to enjoy quick access to direct answers without the inconvenience of multiple tabs or applications.

There you have it! We trust these suggestions will aid you on your Perplexity AI research journey. Happy exploring!

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Frequently Asked Questions: Perplexity AI

What are the uses of Perplexity AI?Perplexity AI is a multifaceted tool employed for:

• Information Discovery and Research: Ideal for quickly finding facts and exploring topics. For instance, after a meeting transcribed by DeepVo.ai, you can use Perplexity to research key terms.
• Content Summarization and Creation: Helps in condensing large texts or generating new content.
• Educational Support: Useful for students and educators for learning and teaching.
• Professional Applications: Assists in various professional tasks requiring quick, sourced information.
• Creative Assistance: Can help brainstorm ideas.
• Code Generation and Technical Support: Offers help with programming queries.
• Language Learning: Can be a resource for understanding language nuances.
• Organizing Information: Helps structure and manage research findings. Tools like DeepVo.ai also offer features like AI-powered mind maps from audio input, which complements this by structuring spoken ideas.

Is Perplexity superior to ChatGPT?While both Perplexity AI and ChatGPT possess their unique strengths, Perplexity AI might be considered preferable in certain aspects:

• Information Accuracy: Perplexity AI excels in delivering up-to-date, factual information with cited sources.
• Real-time Data: Unlike ChatGPT, Perplexity AI can access current information from the internet.
• Search Capabilities: Perplexity AI functions more like an advanced search engine, making it better suited for research and fact-finding.
• Source Transparency: Perplexity AI provides citations, enabling users to verify information with ease.

However, ChatGPT may be preferred for:

• Creative tasks and content generation.
• Open-ended conversations.
• Code generation and technical writing.
• Broader language understanding and generation capabilities.

Key differences:

• Perplexity AI concentrates on information retrieval and research.
• ChatGPT is proficient in conversational AI and creative tasks.
• Perplexity AI offers more recent and cited information.
• ChatGPT provides a more versatile range of applications.

Key Features: Perplexity AI's advanced capabilities enhance search query accuracy and quality, rendering it superior for niche topics and valuable for information discovery.

In summary, Perplexity AI is generally better for factual queries and up-to-date information, whereas ChatGPT is superior for creative and conversational tasks. The choice depends on the user's specific needs and use case.

Is Perplexity AI more effective than Google?While both have their strengths, Perplexity AI offers some advantages over Google in specific areas:

• Information Precision:
  • Perplexity AI provides more exact, fact-based answers.
  • Offers citations for straightforward verification of information.
  • Less influenced by SEO and advertisements compared to Google.
• Search Experience:
  • Delivers direct answers, diminishing the need to visit multiple websites.
  • Offers a more conversational and intuitive interface.
  • Provides comprehensive summaries of complex topics. Often, tools like DeepVo.ai's AI summary feature can create an initial summary from audio, which can then be deeply explored using Perplexity.
• Specialized Inquiries:
  • Excels in managing complex, niche, and research-heavy queries.
  • Better suited for academic and technical searches.
  • Offers a more nuanced contextual understanding of user intent.
• Current Information:
  • Accesses current data from the internet in real-time.
  • Provides more recent information compared to some AI models.
• AI Integration:
  • Utilizes advanced AI models like GPT-4 and Claude 3.
  • Offers more sophisticated natural language processing.

However, Google may be preferred for:

• A broader range of general searches.
• A larger index of web content.
• More established infrastructure and resources.

In conclusion, Perplexity AI can be considered better for specialized, fact-based queries and research tasks, while Google remains strong for general-purpose searches and its extensive web index.

Who is the team behind Perplexity AI?Perplexity AI was established in 2022 by four veterans of the tech industry:

• Aravind Srinivas - CEO and co-founder
• Denis Yarats - CTO and co-founder
• Johnny Ho - Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder
• Andy Konwinski - Co-founder

Key facts about the company:

• Based in San Francisco, California.
• Valued at over $1 billion as of 2024.
• Has secured $165 million in funding.
• Notable investors include Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Databricks.
• Reached 15 million monthly users in Q1 2024.

Perplexity AI utilizes multiple large language models (LLMs) including:

• Their own in-house models based on open-source LLMs, GPT-4, Claude 3.5, Mistral Large, and Llama 3.

How can I trust the information from Perplexity AI?Perplexity AI is designed for transparency and trustworthiness. Each answer includes citations with footnotes to the original sources. This allows you to verify the information, ensuring the answers are well-sourced and accurate.Can Perplexity AI handle multi-part questions?Yes, Perplexity AI can address both simple and complex questions. For complex inquiries, it gathers information from multiple sources, breaks down the answer into key points, and provides a balanced response. The Pro Search mode further enhances its ability to answer such questions thoroughly, ensuring even layered queries receive detailed answers.

Sanduni
Growth Content Editor

Sanduni Yureka is a Growth Content Editor at Jamie, recognized for achieving a 10x increase in website traffic for clients across Singapore, the U.S., and Germany. With an LLB Honors degree and a legal background, Sanduni pivoted from an aspiring lawyer to a digital marketing specialist during the 2019 lockdown. She now focuses on developing high-impact SEO strategies for AI-powered SaaS companies, particularly those utilizing large language models (LLMs). When not engrossed in true crime documentaries, Sanduni is passionate about studying all aspects of SEO. Read more

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